Beverage cartons

Welcome to the waste directory - beverage cartons (tetra paks)

What can be recycled?

Beverage cartons are a composite packaging material, in other words they are not made from paper alone but comprise of about 75% paper, 20% plastic (polyethylene) and 5% aluminium foil (for long-life products).

Baled cartons are dropped into a water-filled pulper and pulped for 20 minutes. This delaminates the packaging, allowing the aluminium foil and polyethylene to be separated from the paper fibres which are recovered to make new paper products. The non-fibre remainder can be used in a number of applications including garden furniture and roofing materials.

New plasma technology is being developed to enable the total separation of the polyethylene and aluminium. This will permit the return of all three components of the carton to the productive chain as raw material.

What is included?

Yes

Milk/juice cartons

Tetra paks

No

Waste hierarchy

What happens to this waste stream?

0% reused100% recycled0% recovered0% incinerated0% landfilled

Beverage cartons waste stream

Where do I put beverage cartons?

Cartons should be empty and can be placed in the green-topped dry mixed recycling bin.

Who empties the bin?

The cleaning team will empty the bins on a regular basis.

Sacks are colour coded and will generally be transported to a compounded area via a trolley.

Sacks are tipped into a the appropriate Eurocart (usually located in a locked compound).

What happens then?

Dry mixed recycling is sent to a Materials Recovery Facility where the materials are segregated. They can then be recycled.